Thursday, August 8, 2019

The NASA Norcal Spec e30 racers slid into a seasonably warm and toasty Willows, California to contest Round 5 of the Championship August 3rd and 4th. With temperatures forecast well over 100F and Spec e30 running the legendary track in the reverse direction for the first time in years, the event promised for thrills, chills, and some unexpected results.

In practice Friday a number of cars already suffering from the heat with Nick Theimann's car breaking a rocker, Round 4 winner Scott Clough's car's transmission mysteriously seizing up, and other various brake issues. Teams worked through the evening, and the entire field of 15 cars made qualifying Saturday morning.

Saturday

Bennett McMicking set the early time to beat with a speedy 2:08.8 on his first timed lap, and Nick Theimann came back next lap dropping a 2:08.5, but perennial pole sitter JP Cadoux dropped a 2:08.1 on his third lap which looked to be the fastest any e30 would set the entire weekend. Behind the fast 3, Andy Chittum, Forest Cook, and Scott Clough, and Rina Balogh took up postion, with just around 2 seconds covering the top 8.

Race 1 took off with an incredibly long hold on the green flag, but the field tore away toward turn 15 after it finally fell. The front of the field funneled in to the T15-14 complex in order with Cadoux, McMicking and Theimann. Chittum, and Forrest Cook came out side by side on the exit of 15, with Chittum edging ahead by T12. The front then consolidated into a train of 4 cars with Cadoux unable to drop the group, but nobody able to pass.

Crazy. But that's how it goes.

At the back, the excitement started early with Team Unibrow CEO and driver James Gouvia getting a great standing start, while ahead of him Rina Balogh missed a shift. With the slightest of scrapes, he made it by on the inside between the wall, and joined teammate John Lothrop's car side by side into the 15-14 complex. Balogh quickly caught up, and the three battled the next lap.

Lothrop and Gouvia continued the battle with multiple passes and re-passes until finally Gouvia pulled ahead just at the checkered flag.

Back at the front, the train continued. McMicking had managed to put his nose around Cadoux early on in the race, but had settled into second. After the halfway point, Chittum started attacking Theimann as well, overlapping in several places. But the turning point of the race came about 8 laps in when coming down super fast 9 - 8 - 7 back straight Theimann made a move up the inside of McMicking. In video review Theimann called the move 'somewhat overly optimistic' - braking from over 110 mph into the tight T6, he put two wheels on the dirt, then caught air off the edge of the inside berm, then nosed into McMicking's rear quarter panel.

This resulted in McMicking spun on the inside of T6, Thiemann crossed up sliding to the outside and Chittum neatly driving through the hole to take over 2nd place. McMicking and Thiemann were both able to continue, but mixed into the rest of the field.

Post-race, two cars were found to be over power on the dyno including Cadoux, which handed the win to Chittum, 2nd to Forest Cook, and 3rd to Uwe Druckenmuller.

Race 2 of the weekend started with Chittum and Cook on the front row, followed by Rina Balough and Uwe Druckenmuller. The start proved to be exciting with Cadoux, McMicking, Thiemann, Scott Clough and Ari Balogh all at the back determined to charge though the field and make Chittum earn his pole position start. This time the standing start went relatively uneventfully, aside from Lothrop taking a high-speed weed-whacking tour on the outside of T14.

Chittum, Cook and Rina Balogh ended up 1 - 2 - 3 for the first few laps while the back and midfield sorted itself out. Slowly, Chittum pulled ahead while Cook fell back with braking issues. JP Cadoux moved up quickly, but touched Rina Balogh on the outside of T9 - both ended up spinning off the outside of the turn and falling back down the field.

Bennett McMicking and Ari Balogh proved to be the most deft at making their way through the field cleanly, and made it up to 2nd and 3rd with Theimann, Clough and Druckenmuller close behind. Chittum managed to keep ahead of the fray and pull in his second win of the weekend.

Race 3 saw the highest temperatures of the weekend, with ambient just over 101, and the track temperature suitable for most forms of cooking.

The group blasted off for the final time of the weekend, and while Ari Balogh was able to get by Bennett McMicking, most of the rest of the field ended up about where they'd started. The one real challenge was JP Cadoux starting from mid-field again, still with the fastest lap times at his command - could he get around the cars around him and chase Chittum down for the win?

Chittum's challenge was steady and fast, while keeping tires alive.

The lap chart shows the top 10 positions covered by just 1.3 seconds of lap time, with JP putting down a few laps a half-second faster than Chittum. With about 4 laps to go, JP cleared the rest of the field, and started to bridge the 4 second gap Chittum had built. On the fast west side of the track, JP had a few ounces of secret sauce to spend and made up time, but across the technical eastern section, Chittum seemed to have saved some tires to hold off the charge.

At the flag, Chittum held on by 2.240 seconds to take his 3rd victory of the weekend.

The exciting 2019 season will conclude October 26-27 at the legendary Sonoma Raceway, where we'll be once again hoping for a little rain to cool down the warm summer.

Thursday, June 6, 2019

May Showers bring e30 Flowers

A healthy field of 14 teams returned to the delightful Sonoma Raceway May 18th and 19th for round 3 of the NASA Norcal Spec e30 championship. While the May event at Sonoma typically offers some of the most beautiful blue skies of the year, the forecast looked darker and more gloomy the closer the weekend came. Teams readied their full treaded Toyo RA-1s instead of the speedy slick RRs in use since 2013.

Saturday Warmup and Qualifying

Usually things don't start really getting exciting until qualifying, but breaking all the rules, Nick Theimann broke a brake line in warmup entering T11, and gave the barrels at the apex of the turn a severe workout with the front of his car. Undaunted, Nick began repairs immediately with a goal of making the race later that afternoon.

Nick gave himself a slight handicap Saturday Morning

Qualifying

Q1 quickly became wet for slicks

While the morning had been dry, as the cars sat on the grid to go out for qualifying, a light rain began, not causing major puddles yet, but significantly reducing grip around the 12 turn track. Most of the field settled in with lap times a good 30 seconds slower than morning warmup, but two frontrunners emerged - Chris Belieu and Andy Chittum. Working in and out of slower traffic, the two e30s started dropping 2 seconds a lap each lap, with Chittum ahead on the track, and Belieu catching up. Chittum turned a 2:35, Blieu a 2:34. Chittum got ahead with a 2:32 to Belieu's repeat 2:34, then Chittum finally dropping to a 2:31.028, and Belieu answering with a 2:31.00 as both cars hit the checkered flag on slicks in the rain.

Saturday - Race 1

With Belieu unable to make the start for Race 1, Chittum started on pole position, with Sylas Mongomery taking over Joe Nagy's car, and JP Cadoux, a functional but not pretty Nick Theimann, Ben Winter, and James Gouveia filling out the top 5. With the race starting in very wet conditions, everyone opted for wet tires this time, and they would need them.

On the start, Chittum and Montgomery launched well, but JP Cadoux jumped from P3 up the inside of T1, and took the grippy wet outside line entering T2. Unfortunately, a sizable pond had appeared on the outside exit of T2 which sent Cadoux spinning slowly yet inexorably off to the inside of T2's exit giving Chittum the lead and slowing Montgomery who was poised to take advantage of any slip ups at the front.

On lap 2, Mongomery was able to take advantage coming out of the Carousel T6, and make an outside pass on Chittum through T7. At the same lap, the race went full course yellow to rescue a group of Miatas that had exited the track in turn 10.

A lap or two later, with the accident cleaned up, a column of Miatas and e30s slowly made their way out of T8, and both Chittum and Montgomery began looking for the green flag through the downpour across the track, but James Gouveia had the advantage with a proper spotter, and roared past the two to the front before they had a chance to react.

As the three charged into a T11 barely visible through the rain and spray, Theimann's newly resurrected car charged into view, and for the next two laps all 4 cars raced side by side, maximum attack, maximum downpour. Gouveia was able to hold off the group for quite some time, but finally, Mongomery was able to make a pass stick by getting inside entering T6, holding station side by side all the way up to T7, and taking the long way around, and finally making the pass stick going into T8. This gave Theimann room to attack Gouveia a few turns later, but he slightly overcooked a wet T1, sliding slowly off into the mud. Chittum took advantage of the mayhem to overlap Gouveia in T2 and T3, and finally asserted position going into T4.

Nick's comeback - yes, the same mangled car as above.

Free to chase after the departed Montgomery, now several seconds ahead Chittum charged on, only to suffer from a broken windshield wiper, which somewhat tempered his ability to attack...and to see. A series of on and off yellow flags between the other cars on the track effectively froze the action until the end of the race with Montgomery in 1st, Chittum second, Gouveia 3rd, Ben Winter 4th, and Daniel Hayward moving up to 5th.

Rain continued steadily through Sunday, and while Saturday morning there was some question about the correct tire, nearly everyone was convinced the 10:10am start for Race 2 that wet tires were the way to go, even though it had stopped raining some hours before the race.

The standing start lined up with Nagy on pole having taken over for his teammate Sylas Montgomery, Chittum on the front row, then Dave Brown in for his teammate James Gouveia, Ben Winter and Daniel Hayward. At the drop of the flag, Chittum managed to get a very good start, gapping Nagy and the rest of the field. Nick Theimann also got a good launch, and after just a few laps of battling, Chittum led the way with Brown and Theimann hot on his heels.

Nature threw strategy for a loop again, as the drivers rolled out, it seemed the track had dried out more than most had thought, and Dave Brown's decision to go with slick tires seemed to be a master move in the first few laps of the race, slowly catching Chittum as the track continued to dry.

However, 3 laps into the race, a light rain began, and by 5 laps in had started to puddle up the previously-drying track. Brown hammered on, and in fact had run faster than Chittum for every lap except the first one, but succumbed first to the attack from a charging Theimann, 5 laps in and by 8 laps in, Chittum managed to pull his lap times down 2 seconds beyond the rest of the field in the pouring rain through to the end of the race.

Sunday - Race 3

Last race of the weekend also started on a well-puddled track, a very muddy T6, lakes entering T8, exiting T10, and in the middle of T12. Chittum lined up on pole, with Thiemann on the front row, Brown and a resurging Chris Belieu row 2, and Forest Cook / Bryan Shiflett on row 3.

A lakeside view...entering T10

The final flag of the weekend dropped, and Chittum again got a great start and out of T2 without contention. Theimann and Brown charged ahead, but a few laps in Brown's e30 was pushed out wide off T6 by out of class contact, and Theimann got ahead. Coming from further back and also showing his rain racing prowess, Chris Belieu made his way around and was in P2 by the time another full course yellow was called. The pack was bunched up costing Chittum an 11 second lead, but as the green fell again, Chittum pulled away again with Belieu, Theimann, Winter, and Brown making up the top 5 at the end.

Up Next!

NASA Norcal Spec e30 will return June 15th and 16th, back at Sonoma Raceway at Sears Point. Certainly many of the drivers will be hoping for drier conditions, while a very few will not.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Round 2 of the 2019 NASA Norcal Spec e30 Championship saw 11 teams make the trip to a lovely springtime version of the legendary Thunderhill Raceway Park. Cool temperatures made for hot racing, and plenty of power to set some speedy lap times around the 3 mile track.

Qualifying Saturday

Bright and early the racers headed out and immediately set some very fast lap times with JP and Bennett dipping into the 2:06s, and five more cars within the next second and a half.

Saturday Race

A green flag saw the entire field cleanly launch with Bennett jumping JP from the outside front row, and Bill Shawhan moving up two rows by turn 2. Zanotto's stylish ultimate tanning machine jumped from 9th to 5th by the exit of turn 6, also taking advantage of 1st lap mayhem in Thunderhill's twisty eastern loop. Both Ben Winter and Andy Chittum fell back, but ended up in an epic battle side by side with Chittum on the outside of T8, 9, 10, and 11, finally making the pass stick going into T14.

Meanwhile, ahead in the mid-pack, Zanotto kept up the attack on Shawhan Senior, moving ahead to 4th while JP moved ahead of Bennett, with Nick Thiemann just behind in 3rd, ready to pick up the pieces of any mistakes.

Unfortunately, pushing to take advantage, Thiemann spun in 6T, doing a full snap 180 in the lovely soft springtime greenery. A verdant green burnout put Nick back in 7th, looking to make up lost time.

While JP slowly pulled away from Bennett, Chittum managed to catch back up to the Senior Shawhan-Zanotto battle, and

zipped by both cars up the inside of T1. Fresh from the fields, Thiemann made it back up to 4th by the end of the race, setting the 2nd fastest lap of the race.

Unfortunately Thiemann and Chittum's cars both went over post-race dyno limits, each by less than a single horsepower, and were sent to the back of the field for Sunday.

Sunday Race 1 (Qualifying)

Exercising their right to creative control, NASA officials inverted the top 8 grid positions for the Sunday race, which put Tony Domenici on pole, with Ben Winter outside front, Team Shawhan and Zanotto row 2, and JP and Bennett row 3. After running to and fro most of the morning with a dodgy axle that was replaced with the group's help, Team Shawhan substituted in Micheal Shawhan, former series champion to add spice to the lineup.

At the drop of the green flag, Shawhan Junior did indeed get an amazing start, and took the lead from the 2nd row by the time the field rounded T1. Winter slid in behind, getting ahead of Dominici, while JP slotted into 4th. Flying high and barely lifting for the bypass, JP slid inside of Dominici at T6, and set off after Shawhan and Winter.

Meanwhile, from the back of the grid, Thiemann motored through the field, reaching P6 by the end of the 1st lap, with the midfield just out of reach. JP also made it around Winter, and his battle with Shawhan was on.

With the #52 Shawhan car still equipped with the legacy suspension rather than the newer Ground Control suspension, both drivers had advantages in different parts of the track, overlapping in some areas, and pulling away in others.

Finally, late in the race, Shawhan got a slight advantage in lapped traffic, and was able to make a gap stick ahead of JP to the end of the race.

Mid-field, Thiemann arrived just as Bennett was making a neat outside pass on Winter, and was able to take advantage of his lost momentum to get into 5th. Catching Bennett through the east course, he just about threw it away in T6 again, but this time hung on and set after the Zanotto - Bennett train. Also aggressively not giving up, Winter joined in, and a cavalcade of mayhem ensued while all 4 cars traded position nearly every lap in and out of lapped traffic, until Chittum finally caught up on the last lap and made it 5 cars passing over the line all within a few tenths of each other.

Sunday Race 2

For the final race of the weekend, Team Shawhan bowed out with mechanical issues, and JP started from the back, putting Bennett and Thiemann on the front row, with Zanotto and Winter on the second. Chittum and Dominici made up the third row.

At the drop of the flag, Bennett got away fastest, and a solid train, Thiemann, Zanotto, Winter, and Chittum formed up behind him. Shortly, JP caught up behind Chittum, and joined in the fun. Several laps later, making a late move up the inside of 10, JP passed Chittum, making his move on Winter in the same place a lap later, then attacking Zanotto's ultimate tanning machine a few laps after that into T1. At the same time, Chittum got inside Winter in T1, and the entire train started to re-shuffle.

JP and Thieman took off into the sunset, separated by a gap, while Chittum made his way by Zanotto, then finally catching Bennett and taking advantage of lapped traffic to move into 3rd with just a few laps to go.

The Norcal Spec e30 Circus will return May 18th and 19th at Sonoma Raceway. Follow us here for all the latest news and excitement!